dinghy outboard motor
- Thread starter vmaks
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We went from a 5 HP Nissan on our inflatable to a 3 1/2 HP Tohatsu long shaft. With the long shaft we can use it as an emergency outboard for the Mac should that outboard fail. The 5 HP would plane with just me in the boat, but not with both of us and was a nightmare to put on and off the dinghy on the water and we never tow with the outboard on the dinghy so the reason for the lighter 3 1/2 HP.
We have towed for hundreds of miles with no problems, but that is mainly ....
....because of the swim ladder that I extended and made a bracket for that holds it out horizontal when pulling the dinghy. With the dinghy pull up ....
..close to it there is no worries of the tow rope wrapping around the prop and the dinghy doesn't bump into the back of the boat or come up along side of it.
Also now we tow the dinghy from its stern. That takes the stress off the rings on the bow and the dinghy tows...
...flatter on the water vs. how it use to in the picture above. If the dinghy ever jepordized the safety of the Mac I'd cut her loose.
The Endeavour has davits and the dinghy will be on those under way with the outboard on the rail off the dinghy. We got a 7 HP 2 stroke with the Endeavour and if it will plan with the both of us we will take....
...both outboards as there are two mounts (above) and use the one that fits the situation best, but I'll bet like the other poster the 3 1/2 HP will by far be used the most.
There is more on towing the dinghy here.........
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/FL-fall-2010/FL-Fall-10-8.html
Sum
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We have towed for hundreds of miles with no problems, but that is mainly ....
....because of the swim ladder that I extended and made a bracket for that holds it out horizontal when pulling the dinghy. With the dinghy pull up ....
..close to it there is no worries of the tow rope wrapping around the prop and the dinghy doesn't bump into the back of the boat or come up along side of it.
Also now we tow the dinghy from its stern. That takes the stress off the rings on the bow and the dinghy tows...
...flatter on the water vs. how it use to in the picture above. If the dinghy ever jepordized the safety of the Mac I'd cut her loose.
The Endeavour has davits and the dinghy will be on those under way with the outboard on the rail off the dinghy. We got a 7 HP 2 stroke with the Endeavour and if it will plan with the both of us we will take....
...both outboards as there are two mounts (above) and use the one that fits the situation best, but I'll bet like the other poster the 3 1/2 HP will by far be used the most.
There is more on towing the dinghy here.........
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/FL-fall-2010/FL-Fall-10-8.html
Sum
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]============================[/FONT]
Our Endeavour 37
Our MacGregor 26-S Pages
Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida
Mac-Venture Links
Try it
I had purchased 3 different motors at different times trying to see which motor to keep and than sell the other 2,I had a 8' air floor dinghy with 4hp and another smaller one but sold it and dinghy as package and than got a used 9'6'' with aluminum floor and 8 hp and so used it with both the 4hp and 8hp until I like having the 8hp and sold the 4hp,so I say get it running good use it and see how it is to use or sell it and get smaller.
Nick
I had purchased 3 different motors at different times trying to see which motor to keep and than sell the other 2,I had a 8' air floor dinghy with 4hp and another smaller one but sold it and dinghy as package and than got a used 9'6'' with aluminum floor and 8 hp and so used it with both the 4hp and 8hp until I like having the 8hp and sold the 4hp,so I say get it running good use it and see how it is to use or sell it and get smaller.
Nick
how do you guys deal with the water that fills up the dinghy from waves splashing water into it that accumulates over time? my inflatable i would leave the drain plug out but towing a rigid dink without a built in drain can turn it into a sea anchor?
We've never had much water come in the Zodiac, an inch or so max while underway, but we don't travel or tow in extreme conditions as we aren't on a time table. Most water we get in is from rain. I use a flat sided can and then a large sponge when there is water.
The worst conditions for us have been in 2-3 foot seas off Florida where you get the occasional wave of 3-4 feet, but they don't really seem to present a problem.
At Lake Powell in 55+ mph winds the dinghy did fly up to the life-llines on the Mac a couple times while we had shore lines....
... and when I was ashore trying ...
... to get a shore line out from under a rock that fell on the line it took off and that is what ended up getting me hurt. Learned there to never get on the downwind side of a trapped line,
As I mentioned above making up a towbar and pulling the dinghy up to it has saved us from a lot of the problems that we had when we just towed her back there free on a line,
Sum
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]============================[/FONT]
Our Endeavour 37
Our MacGregor 26-S Pages
Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida
Mac-Venture Links
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